Internal combustion engines are commonly used for propelling vehicles, including, for example, cars and trucks, generally using fossil fuels such as petroleum, gasoline, diesel, etc. Various engines include reciprocating, rotary, and turbine engines, which are driven by heat or other forms of energy as a result of expansion of burning gases which is converted into linear and/or rotational movement.
Many internal combustion engines, whether piston-based, rotary or turbine, often exhibit poor efficiency in that only a small amount of the energy released via the combusting gases is converted to rotational energy that ultimately powers or drives the vehicle. Furthermore, many internal combustion engines generate a great amount of pollution due to the by product. Another drawback commonly found in typical internal combustion engines is related to durability in that due to the extreme heat and complex web of moving parts that are generally involved in the assembly of an internal combustion engine, failure of various moving parts is a relatively common occurrence in typical internal combustion engines.
There is thus a need for a more efficient engine that can be easily manufactured and which exhibits minimal moving parts in order to convert heat generated by combusted fuels into rotational energy used to propel the corresponding vehicle. As such, the proposed engine should include fewer moving parts than conventional piston or internal combustion engines. In addition, the engine should be scalable and easily manufactured to a desired configuration (e.g., for a desired horsepower). Particularly, the proposed engine assembly may include a plurality of axially aligned engine wafers, where more or less wafers may be used, as desired, larger or smaller wafers or wafers with a larger or smaller circumference or area may be used, etc. to achieve the desired horsepower or engine capacity. It should also be noted that the proposed engine may include fewer or no lubricating oils or cooling water, in that an axially aligned compressor assembly may function much like a heat sink cooled by the intake air.